The systems for transportation, storage, classification and control of hanging lightweight products are well known in the prior art. There are products on the market that may perform the same general function. What makes them different are the means to achieve the objectives. The basic differences lie in the design of the transporter, in the supports of the production units or carriages, in the means for identification and in the control logic of the system. These products are not profitable in a wide range of industries within their field of application, either due to their size, or due to their high cost and the production costs in the countries in which they are located.
Some of these transporters form a main circuit designed in such a manner as to prevent detours to the left and right from the main traveling direction of the transport system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,141 and UK Patent Application GB 2 124 989. This characteristic means that the main circuit must be longer for the same number of work posts than for transporters that may have both detours, as in the case of the transporter of the present invention, which effects the cost of the transporter and the surface area it occupies.
Other transporters that may have detours to the both sides of the main circuit are formed by a guide rail on which the drive element for the production unit supports or carriages run, which do not rest on the rail, but on another one on which they travel (Spain Invention U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,558). This rail duplication has a repercussion on the cost of the transporter.
As to the invention described in the publication No. EP 0 093 863, the aforementioned differences are applicable.
These basic differences imply others in the detour mechanisms and the actual support carriages of the production units, as will be seen in the following description.